Anyone have any funny ideas for a 'personalized' license plate on a Alaska-registered van which is currently living in Europe? Right now, its being watched by friends in Nurnberg, Germany, but I'll be returning to Finland in September...
In the meantime...the tags are expiring in a couple months, so I decided to change the plates to something Finnish.
The rules for AK plates?
It must be a maximum of six characters (including spaces).
Only numbers and/or 'english' letters.
Cannot be three letters followed by three numbers.
The six character rule is a real bitch - as Finns seem to thrive on long words....but creative abbreviation is common here. (ie 2HOT4U, WBMSTR (webmaster), ASSMAN (from a Seinfeld episode) etc...)
For example I could select something like SUOMI. I kind of like this one, because I think it would be pretty ironic for a foreigner to have that plate...
Could be nice and friendly and take something like TERVE...
Could suck up to corporate interests and try NOKIA (even though I hate cell phones...) - or make friends with Oulu hockey fans and use KARPAT....
Or could I could takes something like KAUNIS...though it would be a sadly inaccurate description of the driver
Also considering JUOPPO - again, a nice irony there - should be comforting for Finnish motorists - and a bit more accurate...
I suppose I could go for 'shock value' and use V1TTU or PRKELE - while 'dirty words' are forbidden on state plates, I don't think we have many Finnish-speaking censors at the Dept. of Motor Vehicles. I'm sure the Finnish AKE/Tulli bureaucrats would love this. (at least until I eventually have to get 'boring' Finnish plates...I suppose changing the plates may have the effect of extending that deadline as well...as they have not yet asked for a VIN#)
Anyway, I'm still thinking about this, but I figured it would be fun to see what some native Finns think....
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Oh, some background for anyone who is interested....
Its been awhile since I've posted here (oh, about six months or so...)
Am a 20-something Civil Engineer, lived my whole life in Alaska so am having an adventure in Finland! Installed about $4000 worth of parts (including a brand new 350...) in one of my old G20 Chevy Vans and drove it to New Jersey, shipped it to Amsterdam (cost: $1035) and wound up in Finland.
Spent about five months in Finland so far studying Finnish and hunting for work, from January to May. Actually received a summer job offer in Oulu, (construction engineering) but elected to work in Fairbanks, Alaska this summer. The differences in take-home pay more than made up for the cost of the flight... (after FIN taxes + reduced wages + restricted work hours...)
Did a lot of travelling too, a Finnish buddy and I spent three weeks driving to Italy over easter holiday via the Baltics. Italy, especially Rome, was amazing, though expensive. The German autobahns were a blast (though getting passed by BMWs going 200+ km/hr takes some getting used to...) Norway is a gorgeous country which I visited several times, and have experienced a Finnish booze-cruise while visiting Ahvenanmaa. (Though it seems that Tallinn is the most popular destination these days...the supermarket near the dock is like a warehouse of liquor - with food worked in between the stacks of long drinks and beer.
Other than suffering a break-in while in Bratislava and getting pulled over on a regular basis for having US plates in Germany - I've had no problems...
And made plenty of Finnish friends on Saturday nights (even set a record, packing 14 drunken Finns and exchange students into the van for the drive back to the University. Good thing I didn't get caught, as the seat-belt fine could have been pretty scary....)
Anyway, while I'm home I'm taking care of a few odds and ends, purchasing some spare parts and tools, including extending my Visa until 2006...!
Later...
Nate Wilke
I thought Finnish licence plates had to be 3 letters and 3 numbers only?
